The present invention relates to devices for retaining a bicycle wheel hub to the front fork of a bicycle and, more particularly, to devices for retaining a quick-release wheel hub to the front fork of a bicycle.
Quick-release hubs are well-known and are used on the wheels of better quality bicycles to facilitate their mounting on or removal from the bicycle frame. Typically, a quick-release hub comprises an axle having threaded ends, a large nut on one end, and a camming mechanism on the other end. The hub engages the drop-out slots of a front fork immediately inboard of the nut and camming mechanism, so that actuation of the camming mechanism causes the drop-outs to be clamped against the axle body.
A disadvantage of wheels having a quick-release hub is that it is not practical to use such a hub on frames having conventional wheel hub retaining systems, which are designed for use with conventional hubs retained on the fork by nuts. For example, one such system (shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings) comprises a metal tab attached to the front fork of a bicycle to pivot outwardly from the drop-out to which it is attached in a plane parallel to the axis of the hub axle. The tab includes a hole which receives the bare, threaded end of a conventional axle. An end of the conventional axle is first inserted through the tab hole, the hub is then placed in the drop-out slots, and the hub is clamped against the fork by nuts.
To mount a quick-release hub on the fork of a bicycle having such a retainer, however, would require partial disassembly of the hub. The nut from one end of the axle would have to be removed to expose the stub end of the axle, since it would be necessary to pass the tab over the end of the axle so that the axle end extended through the hole in the tab.
Accordingly, there is a need for a wheel retainer which positively retains a wheel hub on the fork of a bicycle, and which can rapidly engage or disengage the axle of a quick-release hub, as well as a conventional hub.